impotentia Latin · revision 33918

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=190–159 BC, Terence|origins=ine-pro *pót-i-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪm.pɔˈtɛn.ti.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [im.poˈtɛn.t͡si.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''impotentia''' ''f'' (genitive impotentiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''inpotentia''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|impotēns|-ia|t1=powerless; ungovernable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) [[m|la|impotēns]] is the negative of [[m|la|potēns|t=powerful]], which de Vaan derives from a verb [[itc-pro|*pot-ē-|t=to be master]], built on [[itc-pro|*poti-|t=master, in control of]] from [[ine-pro|*pót-i-|t=master, lord]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Terence and Sisenna on.^(TLL) In Terence's ''Adelphoe'' people whose affairs go less well think they are always shut out because of their weakness.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first sense, in Terence, is weakness and helplessness, or want of means;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Donatus glosses it "infirmity".^(TLL) Much more often it is lack of self-control: Cicero defines it as a state of mind far removed from temperance and moderation,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and a tragic poet joins it to crimes and boastful talk.^(OLD 2012) Velleius says someone never used his power to the point of excess, Livy speaks of the unruliness of women, and Tacitus of the veterans.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace imagines a land where no star's burning violence scorches the flock.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Stelten gives "impotence" for Church Latin,^(Stelten 1995) and the English [[m|en|impotence]] first meant physical weakness and poverty.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of weakness.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of lack of self-control.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of the violence of a star.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * early 15th century – [[m|en|impotence]] appears in English, from Old French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Weakness, helplessness; lack of means, [[m|en|poverty]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Lack of [[m|en|self-restraint]], immoderate behaviour, [[m|en|violence]], fury.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' [[m|en|impotence|alt=Impotence]].^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[impotēns]]

+ * [[potentia]]

+ * [[potēns]]

+ * [[en|impotence]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}